Ricky Gervais says Derek is a show about kindness (Picture: Channel 4)

Ricky Gervais has opened up about his new TV show Derek revealing that he gets emotional thinking about the titular character.

In an interview with The Observer, Gervais said that he felt real affection for the character of Derek, a naive middle-aged man who works in an old age home.

He said: ‘I don’t just mean I love the character like I’d love playing James Bond. I mean that if Derek was real, I would love him as a person. He gets to me. I could well up thinking about how sweet he is.

‘He’s us before we get burdened by what other people think of us.’

Gervais added: ‘He doesn’t have to second guess what the right thing is: he does it intuitively. He has no burden of duty other than asking: “What can I do that will make this person feel better?”‘

The funnyman was criticised after the pilot was first screened last year with accusations that the show mocked people with learning difficulties although Gervais has insisted that Derek isn’t disabled.

Gervais said the show was about ‘kindness’ adding ‘I think our elderly are forgotten sometimes.’

He said: ‘I’ve made the home the sweetest, nicest place to be because I didn’t want it to be a political swipe.

‘It’s nothing to do with “care” or “care in the community” – it’s a backdrop rather like selling paper was the backdrop to The Office. But that was about turning 30. This is about turning 80.’

The comedian said that he thought people forgot about the elederly because they don’t want to think about their own mortality.

‘No one cares,’ he said. ‘There are no Hollywood stars speaking out for the elderly. They’re forgotten, bewildered, and I don’t think it’s because people are cruel or don’t care.’

The first episode of the first series of Derek was screened this week on Channel 4.